British media: Racial death! U.S. Targeted Plunder of Black Communities Builds "Wall of Threats"

2023-06-29 23:13

Source: China Daily

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China Daily, June 29 -- According to the website of the British "Guardian", in Detroit, most of the dozens of car factories are built in areas that people of color call home. In addition to facing high levels of pollution and asthma rates, some of them are now once again facing the "tragedy" that happened to their ancestors – displacement.

The neighborhood where local resident Bethany Howard lived was demolished to meet America's demand for cars. In the 80s of the 20th century, Howard grew up in Detroit, also known as Motor City. Five generations of her family have lived, worked and attended school in East Canfield, a close-knit, walkable community. Howard remembers the day the bulldozer drove in, in the early '90s, when she was in fifth grade, churches and businesses and hundreds of homes were demolished, including her best friend's. A nearby car factory tried to expand, and the city took over the houses using expropriation rights to help with the expansion, and what was once a residential site was quickly turned into a parking lot and empty lawns.

A generation later, local black residents were anxious that this would happen again.

Screenshot of the Guardian report

A local car plant announced plans for an expansion in 2019, and despite Detroit's mayor's promise that the expansion would not cause more displacement, the possibility is now being discussed — because of the pungent and toxic smell emitted by the plant. Some people liken it to paint, others say it's like gas and locals can taste it in their mouths and throats. It has covered neighborhood after block of homes in East Canfield; Most of the time, it is imperceptible, but at other times, it is so intense that people have to close windows and doors tightly. This odor is considered a sign of toxic chemicals in the air.

The controversy reignited a discussion in Detroit about the legacy of the auto industry, especially for black residents. In one mind, car manufacturers offer stable factory jobs and generous benefits. But there is a cost that often goes unnoticed. Dozens of car factories are mostly built in areas that people of color call home. This means that these residents have endured decades of pollution – and some are now facing displacement.

Kathryn Douglas, whose family has worked in the auto industry, said it was initially hoped that the plant would improve the neighborhood by adding thousands of jobs. "But that's not the case," she said. "Initially, we expected them to really help the community grow," Douglas said. She hopes there may be green spaces and walking trails.

In fact, the city government claimed at the time that most residents were happy with the buyout. "They paid him a sum of money, and he bought another house, which was in a better neighborhood," said Darnell Gardner, a native of Detroit.

However, construction work displaced thousands of residents and razed 150 businesses. At the same time, the plant received hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks from the city and state governments of Detroit, while the government paid for residents' relocation costs from its own treasury. This echoes other similar cases in history. In 1981, more than 4,000 residents were evicted from an equally thriving neighborhood in Poletown to make way for General Motors plants. Of those, most are people of color.

In fact, most of Detroit's automotive facilities are located in historically red-lined neighborhoods. According to the BridgeDetroit analysis, these already underinvested areas are exposed to more air pollution from 49 existing and former car plants.

Douglas, who is nearly 70, said she watched the neighborhood go from "once very prosperous" to "now it's almost a desert." She said she watched the community lose schools, pharmacies and laundries, leaving only a doctor's office and a few churches. Instead, the plant "brought a lot of traffic, debris and general health problems."

Empty streets of the city of Detroit

In 2019, the plant announced plans to build a new car assembly line, promised to bring 5,000 new jobs, and agreed to prioritize hiring Detroiters, though the number of jobs it created was questioned after reports that some "new" employees were actually transferred from other factories.

Even as Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan promised residents would not be evicted, community members pleaded with the state to refuse to issue an expansion permit. Among their concerns, the community is already facing high levels of pollution and high asthma rates. Blacks in Detroit are three times more likely than whites to be hospitalized for asthma, and the neighborhood around the plant has one of the highest asthma hospitalization rates in the city.

But the state approved the plant, requiring increased air monitoring and community benefits to address public health concerns. The state also accepted the plant's proposal to reduce emissions at another of its plants in Warren to increase emissions in East Canfield, a more affluent white community. The plant's new facility "shouldn't be allowed to extend into residents' backyards based on emissions alone," said Andrew Bashi, an attorney who filed a civil rights complaint with the Environmental Protection Agency on behalf of EastSide residents. The complaint alleges that the state discriminated against black residents in granting the permit.

"Thousands of people have been systematically displaced by expansion after expansion. Their limited green space has been razed to the ground and given to the car factory, only to be turned into a parking lot," Bash said. "Really, this is just the latest brick in a raging wall built through decades of racism and targeted plundering of black communities."

According to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, at least 188 residential lots were affected by the new plant's odor. These odors may indicate the presence of harmful chemicals in the air, such as volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, which are associated with worsening asthma and irritation of the eyes, nose and throat. The updated study looked at whether volatile organic compounds lead to adverse birth outcomes.

"I felt stuffy in my chest. I can really taste the smoke in my throat," said Kimberly Starks, an employee at Southeastern High School, a public school adjacent to the plant. "There is always a pungent smell of gas."

"There were days when there was a noticeable smell of paint outside. We've also had days when we smelled a lot of gas," said Ricky Ackerman, an employee of the Eastside Community Network, a nearby nonprofit.

Since the new plant was built, it has added more than 50,000 pounds of toxic volatile organic compounds to nearby air. For years, the plant's executives have said the emissions pose no more health risks to nearby residents. But since 2021, the facility has been issued eight air quality violation tickets, receiving one of them just last month. Jodi Tinson, a spokesman for the plant, said the odor problem would be solved when the company installed a new device to capture emissions.

Detroit City Council Councilmember Latissa Johnson, who represents East Canfield residents, said: "It's a bit too much to have a community caught between the old and new plants, leaving them to bear all the emissions from those two plants, and I think this needs to be addressed. ”

However, the mayor, who initially promised no displacement, was still bullish on the expansion of the plant. "The Mayor's Office continues to appeal to the state on behalf of residents to address the odor issue. It's all a state regulatory issue," said John Roach, a spokesman for the agency.

Robert Shobe, whose backyard is almost connected to the walls surrounding the plant, was one of the locals who welcomed the buyout. Shaw, who is recovering from cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, said his health was affected by the plant. Since the plant expansion, Schober has battled pollution in his backyard, rallied his neighbors, attended meetings with elected officials, conducted his own air monitoring, and engaged in other efforts to address the problem. "I've been through so much." "It's laborious and it's stressful," he said. "I don't have much choice right now."

(Compiler: Ma Rui Editor: Han He)